Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Silly stories about meeting celebrities – #6 – Getting the call from The Big O – Oscar Robertson

Getting this book autographed by Oscar Robertson was a challenge.

One of the greatest basketball players in the history of the game, Oscar Robertson is also one of the more irascible and unpredictable.  He is generous in spirit, but after a lifetime of slights, he can smell another one a mile away.

I have crossed paths with the Big O on two occasions, and both experiences were very memorable.

The first was because of my desire to please my son with the gift of an autographed book.  Because of Oscar’s all-around game, Ryan was fascinated with the Indianapolis native.  I gave Ryan a book called, “But They Can’t Beat Us” about the Crispus Attucks High School team for whom Oscar played.  I brought it to the radio station where I worked on a morning when I knew Oscar would be in studio.

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During a commercial break, I asked Oscar to sign it.  “No, no.  I don’t sign that book,” Oscar said with more than a hint of anger.  I asked if there was a book he would sign for my son.  He said, “My book.  I’ll sign The Big O for your son.”

I walked a block south to the Borders Bookstore, and bought a copy of The Big O.  During the next break, I handed it to him.  He signed and explained, “The man who wrote that other book promised money from it would go toward building a Crispus Attucks Hall of Fame.  He didn’t donate a cent to it, so I don’t sign that book.”

That’s the thing people learn very quickly with Oscar.  He is unafraid to say no for very good reasons.  I’m glad he explained the reason for his refusal.  It opened a window into who he is.  Instead of me walking away believing The Big O to be some kind of angry and bitter kook, I believed he’s a guy who values trust and penalizes those who fail to live up to promises.

The next time I crossed paths with Oscar, he called me.  Here’s the conversation:

Me:  Hi, this is Kent.

Oscar:  Kent, Oscar Robertson.  I’ve been told you know how to get things done, and my high school team needs to be inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.  Milan was inducted, and we deserve to be in there too.

Me:  Oh.  Well, sure.

Oscar:  They made that movie (Hoosiers) about Milan, so they’re in the Hall of Fame, but my team is just as deserving if not more.

(Oscar went on for several minutes extolling the virtues of his team and articulating very clearly the reason he believed no film was made about Attucks, who won back-to-back state championships in 1955 and 1956.)

Me:  I see.

Oscar:  This is not about me.  I’m already in that hall of fame and several others.  This is about my teammates.  I want them to be recognized for how good they were.  I mean if Milan is in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, obviously Attucks should be too.

Me:  Oscar, I’ll make the call.  Have to make this happen.

Oscar:  Thanks!

Roger Dickinson, who was the head of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame at the time was an acquaintance, but I held no power over him or the organization.  It seemed unlikely that a call from me was going to be the magic elixir needed to get The Big O and his championship teams inducted, but I immediately called Dickinson and explained the case for Attucks.  I also mentioned how people might infer the appearance of a racial motivation behind Milan (an all-white team) being the only team inducted as a group.

The following year, the 1955 Attucks team got the call, and the year after that it was the 1956 team’s turn.

Did I get those two Attucks teams into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame?  Let’s do the math: Oscar called and asked I make the case.  I called the head of the Hall and made the case.  Both teams were inducted.

Case closed!

When it’s safe to play, I want sports back on TV – with or without fans!

This is Rocketball, and I never want to watch it on TV again – EVER!

Live sports, please come back!

Whether or not there are fans in the stands, I don’t care.  After spending an hour on Sunday watching the world championship of a team video game called Rocketball, I am ready to watch real people play real games in real time.

Earlier this week, I watched a computer simulation of the Indiana Pacers playing the Miami Heat.  This wasn’t people playing NBA2K – it was an entirely computer generated game that the Heat won.  I yelled at the TV because the computerized T.J. Warren would not stop shooting and missing while Victor Oladipo was wide open and hotter than hell.

That’s a problem.

ESPN bloviator-in-residence Chris Berman guested on Sportscenter earlier this week and said the sports without fans just doesn’t seem right and that the return of the NBA and Major League Baseball should be delayed until fans can return too.

Why?

The vast majority of collegiate and high school athletic events are held in front of friends and family.  Players still go hard and compete.  Should they not play because only their parents care about the results?  Of course not.  Professional sports rely upon ticketed fans for revenue – not quality of play.

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Sure it will be weird to see athletes in front of empty seats, but if that becomes a disqualifier for holding games, the Chicago White Sox would have ceased to exist a half century ago.  (Okay, that’s a cheap shot from a Cubs fan at a franchise that has always had a problem drawing fans because of many factors – including the superiority of the Cubs as well as Wrigley Field as a ballpark.)

I have been reduced to watching thoroughbred racing to catch anything competitive and live, and I have friends regularly betting on Russian ping pong.  They are convinced the games are rigged, which seems an odd complaint as they know nothing of the competitors, and whether it’s fixed or not has no impact upon their ability to pick winners.

Life is better with live sports on TV, and if playing without fans puts something on my TV other than Coronavirus briefings, video games, and horse racing – I am IN!  BIG IN!

I care about the fan impact on games only when I am one of those fans.  I love going to Pacers, Colts, Cubs, Hoosiers, Bulldogs, Eleven, Indians, Boilermakers and Fuel games.  I attend a bunch of high school football and basketball games every year too.  One of the last events I attended prior to the cancellation of all events was the Big 10 Women’s Basketball Tournament, and I loved it.  Watching Ali Patberg play for Indiana was joyous, but given a choice between watching on TV and games being canceled, I TAKE WATCHING GAMES ON TV.  ALL DAY!  EVERY DAY!

What Berman was thinking, I have no idea.  But that’s nothing new.  Give me live sports once it is safe for the players and coaches!

Silly stories about meeting celebrities – #5 – Causing Carol Burnett to panic about thieves

Carol Burnett’s performance for fans in Lake Bluff and Lake Forest was at least the equal of her work in 1978’s “The Wedding.”

In 1977, the film “A Wedding” was shot in Lake Bluff, Illinois.  That director Robert Altman, and actors Carol Burnett, Lillian Gish, and Mia Farrow were spending the summer in Lake Bluff and Lake Forest making the movie was a big deal.  Celebrity sightings happened everywhere.

The friendliest of the film’s cast was Burnett.  People seemed to see her everywhere, and stories of her approachability made her a target for gawkers in these two small towns 35 miles north of Chicago.

My mom drove us to the Armour Estate on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan one morning to try to check out the house where the film was set.  We pulled up to the security guard, a portly fellow named Ivo Pudak, and asked if we could circle around the drive inn front of the house.  He said no. Assuming security guards enjoy a doughnut now and then, we drove to the bakery in Lake Forest and picked up a dozen.

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The jelly-filled bribe failed to impress Pudak enough to grant us access.  “Sorry, I would love to allow you back, but someone broke in last night and stole some of the wardrobe,” he told us.

I lobbied for a third run at or around this security stooge, but Mom had no interest in parking a quarter mile north and trying to walk in through the woods – or via the beach.

Mom decided we should drive past the Deerpath Inn in Lake Forest, the hotel where the cast and crew were staying, to see if Burnett was there.  We had done this many times the previous two weeks without seeing anyone famous.  This time, we got lucky.  There she was with her easily recognized red hair glowing like a beacon atop her ample head.

After parking, we approached her to ask for an autograph.  Because Mom is a social and chatty person, she regaled a very patient and accommodating Burnett with the story of our adventure at the Armour Estate.  As part of the tale, Mom mentioned Pudak’s aside that wardrobe had been stolen.  “What?  Wardrobe stolen?” Burnett asked.

Burnett bolted into the hotel, and grabbed the phone at the front desk.  “Hello, this is Carol.  Will there be a delay today because of the stolen wardrobe?  It wasn’t?  OK.”  Burnett turned to us and said the wardrobe was fine, and that the guard likely invented the theft in order to get us to leave without being unpleasant.

No one was too upset with Pudak’s deceit because here we were talking to Carol Burnett.  This was much better than driving past a house where a movie was being shot.

Mom regaled Burnett with another story – this one about how her Carol Burnett Show castmate Harvey Korman’s ex-wife was married to a distant relative of my Uncle Tom.  There seemed to be an endless number of links in the chain between Korman’s ex-wife and Uncle Tom, and Burnett listened intently through the descriptions of the people on each branch.

Finally, my friend Nick Anson said, “Which means they aren’t related at all!”  Burnett burst into laughter and said, “Oh, that’s funny!”

Burnett signed note cards for all of us and promised autographed pictures that we could pick up at the hotel the next day.

The movie was a strange mish-mash that never really came together.  It’s probably one of Altman’s most forgettable films.  But our experience with Burnett was very memorable as she was very patient and pleasant, and it was great fun to hear Nick make her laugh – even if Mom was the straight woman.

Positional breakdown of the Indianapolis Colts shows they are a mediocre team – today

Whether Philip Rivers is a short-term solution as the starting QB or a just a more expensive problem will go a long way toward determining what kind of team the Colts have in 2020.

The Colts are coming off a disappointing 7-9 season that is at least partially explained by the surprise retirement of elite quarterback Andrew Luck, whose excellence was capable of masking a lot of problems.

With a year to adjust to Luck’s departure, it’s reasonable to assume the Colts may take a step forward.  Through the first wave of free agency, general manager Chris Ballard has added some pieces which should shore up areas of need.  The draft and secondary free agency should allow the Colts to add a few more players who can elevate the roster.

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Four months short of the opening of training camp, there are ways for the Colts to improve.  They will need to because the reasons for championship level optimism simply do not exist today.

Here is a positional breakdown of the current roster (grades are based upon A – Super Bowl level; B – playoffs; C – 8-8 team: D – 6-10; F contributes to a 4-12 or worse record.)

Quarterback – The Colts “upgraded” by signing Philip Rivers, a QB who has never played in a Super Bowl, finished his last 10 seasons as a starter for the Chargers with a 77-83 record, qualified for the playoffs once in his last six seasons, and will turn 39 in December.  Jacoby Brissett did not get the job done during the second half of the 2019 season, but Rivers’ Chargers finished last year with two fewer wins than the Colts.  The blueprint for the Colts future at football’s most important position is currently blank.  Colts QBs account for $46M of the Colts cap space – which is a lot given the talent level.  Compare that to the $8M the Chiefs have invested – and they have Patrick Mahomes!

Grade – C

Wide Receiver – T.Y. Hilton, 30, is coming off his second straight injury-filled season.  Maybe his health returns for 2020 and the Colts will enjoy a top tier threat.  If not, the cupboard is virtually bare.  Parris Campbell is potentially dynamic, but he missed nine games last year with a variety of injuries.  Zach Pascal’s chief asset in 2019 as the Colts leading wideout was his health.  This position requires an upgrade – or three.  Spending $25 million for Rivers only makes sense if he has a stable of healthy weapons who can get separation.

Grade – C- (if Hilton is healthy – D if not, and only because I don’t give Fs)

Running Back – Marlon Mack rushed for nearly 1,100 yards last year despite some dings that robbed him of two games.  He is sub-elite, but as sure a thing for the offense as there is as he enters his fourth year.  Nyheim Hines is a poor man’s Darren Sproles.  He’s a unique weapon who can run and catch, but his usage rate dropped by about a third after his 2018 rookie year showed promise.  Jordan Wilkins flashed big play ability in his second year.  This isn’t as strong a three-some as the Kardashians have enjoyed, but it’s solid.

Grade – B 

Tight End – Eric Ebron is gone, and that might be a very good thing.  I could go on about the reasons that is good, but what is gained by that?  Let’s expend our energy on who remains.  Jack Doyle is a jack of all trades, master of none.  Good blocker, good receiver.  Every good team has a Jack Doyle, but relying upon him to be a dynamic weapon is not realistic.  Mo Alie-Cox has huge hands, but has used them to catch passes only 15 times in his two-year career.  Entering his third year as a full-time football player (after a college basketball career), Alie-Cox remains a project.  Ballard needs to go to work here.

Grade – D+

Offensive Line – As a collective, this is one of the top starting groups in the NFL.  When Anthony Castonzo decided to return, a big box was checked.  Quenton Nelson is as good a left guard as there is in the NFL, and Ryan Kelly is a pro bowl center.  At right tackle, Braden Smith is a nice bookend to Castonzo.  Mark Glowinski at right guard is the closest thing to a liability the line has, other than depth.  Le’Raven Clark, Jake Endrenkamp, Chaz Green, and Andrew Donnal are the current rostered backups of note.  That means trouble for the offense if a starter (other than Glowinski) gets hurt.

Grade – A-

Defensive Line – This could be the Colts deepest position, with a lot of good players.  Justin Houston was solid last year with 11 sacks, and Ballard acquired DeForest Buckner in exchange for the #13 overall pick.  If Kemoko Turay can come back healthy – he, Denico Autry, Al-Quadin Muhammad, and Ben Banogu can help lift this group.  Tyquan Lewis needs to go to work to save his career as a potential cog for a championship level team.

Grade – C+ (maybe it becomes a B, but before we see these linemen compete together, who knows?)

Linebacker – Darius Leonard’s excellence helps lift the linebackers.  On a defense without a lot of playmakers, Leonard makes plays.  His level of tackles, sacks, and picks are remarkable through two seasons.  Bobby Okereke improved throughout his rookie season in every phase.  Anthony Walker is not disruptive, but I can’t help believe his presence helps both Leonard and Okereke play at a high level by getting them in the right spot.

Grade – B-

Cornerback – Who knows what this group will look like by the time the season rolls around?  Former starter Pierre Desir is a Jet, and Xavier Rhodes and T.J. Carrie have signed as free agents.  Rok Ya-Sin is back for year two, and Kenny Moore II returns as well.  Quincy Wilson is still somehow on the roster.  Marvelle Tell took strides in the conversion from safety to corner.  Rhodes was a pro bowler for the Vikings in 2017, but graded poorly last year.  He reunites with former Vikings position coach Jonathan Gannon, so maybe that helps him revert to form for the Colts.  If Rhodes and Carrie play well, which is possible if not likely, the Colts will be OK here.  If not, this is a massive problem.

Grade – D unless Rhodes bounces back to 2017 level.

Safety – Clayton Geathers is likely gone as he remains unsigned.  That leaves Malik Hooker and Khari Willis to man a spot that is hard to evaluate.  Hooker keeps the top on the defense and can be excellent without stacking mad stats.  Willis supports the run defense and helps in coverage.  If the pass rush forces a QB to get rid of the ball earlier than he would like, Hooker should be able to get a few picks.  If the pass rush doesn’t get home, Hooker won’t get opportunities too often.  George Odum provides depth, but is paid more for his special teams work than at safety.  He’s an easy guy to root for because he puts his body at risk constantly, but the Colts need more depth here.

Grade – D

Special Teams – Rigoberto Sanchez is one of the best punters in the NFL.  Luke Rhodes is a good long snapper (only because long snapping is a pass/fail position, and Rhodes always passes).  The great unknown for the Colts is at kicker.  Will Adam Vinatieri get healthy, and will he be welcomed back if he does.  The NFL’s best all-time kicker was healthy for 10 games in 2019, and hit 68% of his field goal attempts.  It wasn’t the eight misses that cost the Colts but the timing of those misses.  If Vinatieri hits big kicks, the Colts go 10-6, make the playoffs, and Rivers is playing somewhere else.  Chase McLaughlin kicked after Vinatieri was put on the injured list, and made six of seven field goal attempts.

Grade – I for incomplete – as in who the hell knows?

Add all that up, the Colts have a cumulative GPA of 2.08, which equates to an 8-8 season.  With almost four months left until camp, Ballard can slide that grade up to the point where the Colts can be seen as a potential playoff team.  Or the opposite could happen.

Silly stories about meeting celebrities – #4 – Confusing actor Andre Braugher in an elevator

Andre Braugher is always supremely confident as an actor. But with me in an elevator, he was bamboozled.

There are few things over which I can claim an absolute mastery.  Elevator conversations are one of them.

I can talk to anyone at anytime in an elevator, as long as the building isn’t over 60 stories tall.  The key is a solid opener that leaves an opening for a coherent response.  The response that I try to elicit will give me an opportunity for a nice close.  The elevator door opens, and the conversation ends.

I have never had a bad conversation in an elevator.  Not once.

The fun is that you never know might get on when an elevator stops to pick someone up.  It’s like welcoming a mystery guest onto the set of a talk show where the conversation will only take 30 seconds.

In Washington DC for a National Association of Broadcasters event to receive an award on behalf of WIBC Radio, I hopped on a hotel elevator to get to my room on the fourth floor.  The door began to close, when a hand reached in.  The doors re-opened and actor Andre Braugher hopped on.

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Braugher stars as Captain Ray Holt on the NBC sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and came to fame as Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Streets.  He’s a Chicago native, who is often mentioned on the short list of the greatest actors the city has produced.

“Andre,” I said in a familiar way – kind of like you would to a business acquaintance – as he moved to the opposite side of the elevator.

“Hi,” said Braugher without making eye contact.  It wasn’t dismissive, but certainly not friendly.  He hit the button for the third floor.

The door opened as the elevator reached the third floor.  Braugher exited.  As he passed the threshold, I said loudly, as though I was introducing him on stage, “Chicago’s greatest actor!”

Braugher took another step, stopped, spun, pointed, and said, “I DO know you!” as the door closed behind him.

Of course, he didn’t know me.  I recognized him, knew he was from Chicago, and parlayed that slice of trivia into a moment of confusion.  Sure, I could have vaguely complimented Braugher like some insipid fanboy, but what’s the fun of that?  Being yet another in a long line of annoying knuckleheads making him uncomfortable with praise offered in a tightly confined space holds no interest for me – or him.

My way, he might have spent the next hour trying to figure out how he knew that strange guy in the elevator.  That’s how you craft a fun moment out a meaningless encounter.

Hoosiers get commitment from Duncomb – Miller building culture, not just talented roster

Logan Duncomb has committed to join an Indiana team recruited from the inside out.

Earlier today, IU earned a commitment from Cincinnati Moeller junior Logan Duncomb, a 6’9″ post player rated #80 in the 2021 class by 247sports.com.

Duncomb chose Indiana over Xavier, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Stanford.  He’s the latest Hoosiers recruit who appears to be cut from a very similar cultural cloth.

As Archie Miller heads into year four of his tenure as IU’s head coach, it appears the culture of the program he’s building is beginning to reveal itself in the classes he has compiled as well as the commits he gathers.

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His guys appear to be smart, team-oriented, and diligent.  In Miller’s first class, he netted Romeo Langford, Rob Phinisee, Jerome Hunter, Damezi Anderson, and Jake Forrester.  This group is difficult to assess because Langford and Forrester left after their freshman years.  Phinisee and Hunter seem to be competitive and smart.  Anderson is still a work in progress.  Three came from the Hoosier state and one from Ohio.

The second class included only Trayce Jackson-Davis and Armaan Franklin.  Both are athletic, talented, and smart – and from Indiana.  Miller also added Joey Brunk – a junior center from Southport who transferred from Butler.

Miller’s third class currently has three members – Bloomington South’s Anthony Leal, Culver’s Trey Galloway, as well as New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year Jordan Geronimo.  Leal appeared to be the favorite for Mr. Basketball before the season was scuttled because of the Coronavirus.  Bloomington South was undefeated at the time, and Leal had become the school’s all-time leading scorer.

Here’s Leal talking about who IU had to beat to get his commitment:

“I had the Stanford situation, which I really loved because it’s one of the best schools in the country and education has always been very important to me, but we all really wanted that Indiana offer, obviously,” Anthony Leal to SI on his offer to Stanford, an elite academic institution.

The press release from Gatorade discussed Geronimo’s academics a bit, “Geronimo has maintained a 3.98 GPA in the classroom and represents one of the state’s top candidates in meeting the Gatorade award’s broad criteria.”

The 2021 class has two members as I write, including Duncomb.  The other is Khristian Lander, who may reclass to 2020 if he completes the academic work required in time to graduate from Evansville Reitz this summer.

Here’s what people say about Duncomb and Lander:

“(Duncomb’s) test scores are Ivy League type. He’s a really bright kid. It’s a part of who he is,” Moeller coach Carl Kremer.

“A student with a 3.8 grade-point average, (Khristian) Lander plans to major in mechanical engineering,” Gordon Engelhardt of the Evansville Courier & Press.

Lander is the wild card.  His thoughts about declassing shows a lack of patience, which can be a plus or minus.  He’s projected as a guy who is good enough to eventually jump to the NBA – as is Jackson-Davis.  They both may corrupt Miller’s ability to get old and stay old.

That’s four recruiting classes – two of which are works in progress – comprised of 13 players.  Most of them are academic achievers from winning programs.  Nine are from Indiana high schools, two are from Ohio, one (Forrester, who transferred) is from Pennsylvania, and Geronimo prepped in NH but is originally from New Jersey.

Miller is not a coach cobbling together talented players, hoping they fit.  He’s identified physical and behavioral traits he prizes, and recruits to them.  If he’s correct, Indiana will win with them.

If there is a reason to buy what Miller is selling and invest in hope the Hoosiers can make strides in 2020-2021 and beyond, his discipline in building a culture specific to IU is it.

Matt Haarms transferring from Purdue won’t hurt the program or player

Matt Haarms haircut and emotional outbursts will be missed by fans, but his productivity will likely be filled quite nicely by others.

Matt Haarms is moving on.

Haarms became famous more for his hair and celebrations than his productivity during his three seasons playing for Purdue, and fans will probably miss those two meaningless attributes.

Purdue announced yesterday that Haarms has entered the transfer portal as a grad eligible player and so the hair, celebrations, and 7’3″ frame will enjoy their final year of college basketball elsewhere.

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Last year, Haarms averaged 8.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, as the Boilermakers receded from being an Elite Eight team to being a likely NIT participant.  After Isaac Haas graduated, it was assumed Haarms would see an increase in his numbers.  Instead, they digressed.

Purdue fans will miss their peacock – the rim protector who was never a bulk scorer or rebounder – but won’t miss what he brought to the team statistically.

Matt Painter will move on quickly, as he always does, and while Haarms’ departure will likely not be a case of addition by subtraction – it also won’t be subtraction by subtraction either.

Haarms will be a prized transfer for someone, but they will probably learn the same thing about Haarms that Purdue fans did – that he’s impossible to ignore for all the wrong reasons.

Can’t blame Haarms for deciding to roll elsewhere.  That’s a decision each student-athlete has to make.  But I can’t blame Painter of Purdue fans remaining equally excited about the 2020-2021 season despite his departure.

Silly stories about meeting celebrities – #2 – Getting Colts QB Peyton Manning backstage at a Rod Stewart concert

The Emmis Building in downtown Indianapolis has been the site of great radio for more than 20 years, but in 1999 it was also the hub of an all-time great party.

The grand opening celebration of the Emmis Worldwide Headquarters in downtown Indianapolis was a hell of a week long party.  People walked through the building night after night, enjoying great food, tall drinks, and each other’s company.

The final afternoon and night ended with a concert at the War Memorial with Kool & the Gang as the openers and Rod Stewart as the headliner.  Buses filled with staff and guests ran the three blocks from the Emmis Building north on Meridian Street on a regular basis, and another 50,000 fans filled the area for the free show.

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Indianapolis celebrities enjoyed themselves along with Emmis employees.  In the lobby of the building on the Saturday of the concert, Colts tight end Ken Dilger, who did a weekly phonier with the WIBC Morning News, was joined by Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and offensive lineman Adam Meadows.

I told Julie that we needed to be ready to hop on the bus when Jeff Smulyan did.  Jeff founded Emmis and still runs the company.  He wrote the check, so he would have unfettered access to the show.  Staying close to him would put us in the eye of the hurricane.  He’s a great guy, so he would likely enjoy our company rather than be annoyed by it.

Sure enough, when Jeff got off the bus (with us right on his heels), he walked straight backstage.  Security waved him through and we were close enough that we weren’t stopped.  Kool & the Gang were playing their hits, and we were 20-feet from the band – stage right.

There were a couple of very serious looking security guards positioned to keep the crowd behind the barricade, and after the band finished I talked to them about how they did their job. They were nice guys whose eyes darted around as they spoke.  These were the same types of guys I tried to avoid as a high school kid trying to sneak into this very kind of event.  Fun to be on the same side of the rope as a credentialed adult.

As I was in the middle of a sentence, the security guys changed position quickly.  Seconds later Rod Stewart exploded out of a trailer positioned a few feet from us.  He sprinted past us, bounding up several steps and leaped onto the stage.  The crowd roared, and I heard a man’s voice call my name.  I thought that was odd, but then saw Dilger waving about 10-feet from the barricade.  He motioned that he wanted to come backstage with Manning and Meadows.

As Stewart’s first song began, I grabbed one of the security guards and pointed at the three Colts.  “These three, they can come back.  Only those three!”  This was 1999, and Manning was coming off a 3-13 rookie season during which he threw 28 picks, so he wasn’t the beloved media icon that he is today.

Why I thought I was the keeper of the backstage keys, I have know idea.  I’ve always been good at getting into places I don’t belong, so maybe I repurposed that skill into that of an ad hoc authority figure who could bark orders to allows others I chose to enjoy the fun.

The guards nodded, and Dilger, Manning and Meadows were allowed through the barricade.  They availed themselves of the ice cold refreshments that filled plastic trash containers, and danced for two-hours of Rod Stewarts greatest hits.  I don’t want to tell tales out of school about Manning’s dancing, but as composed in the pocket as he was, imagine the opposite.

Stewart’s show ended, security guards cleared a path as the sweaty rocker returned to his trailer, and the rest of us dispersed into the night.  Manning went on to win two Super Bowls, Dilger signed a huge (at the time) free agent deal to play in Tampa, and the Emmis Building became a place where the best radio in Indianapolis continues to be produced.

Silly stories about meeting celebrities – #1 – Hall of Fame #Cubs broadcaster Jack Brickhouse

Jack Brickhouse and his wife dancing.

As an intern in the sports office at WGN Radio in Chicago, I worked with Chuck Swirsky, Randy Minkoff, Wayne Larivee, and Dwayne Staats.  It was a great place to learn among broadcasters who have had long careers doing what they love.

My hero in the sports broadcast business was Jack Brickhouse, with whom I probably spent more time as a kid than any man other than my dad.  He told the stories of roughly 150 Chicago Cubs baseball games on WGN-TV each season from long before I was born until after I graduated high school, and I watched at least parts of nearly all of them.

Brickhouse was a homer for the Cubs and a pro.  He was great at weaving historical tidbits he witnessed into broadcasts, and punctuated every home run hit by a Cub with his signature “Hey! Hey!”

When Brickhouse walked into the sports office at WGN-Radio on a Thursday afternoon in 1988, I stopped in my tracks and gawked.  There he was – the guy who narrated and inspired my love for baseball and broadcasting – and I had no idea what to say.

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Brickhouse looked exactly the same as he did when he retired seven years earlier, and he was holding a cake box.  There was one unsettling difference.  He had recently grown a mustache, so I decided that would be my icebreaker.

“Mr. Brickhouse, my name is Kent Sterling,” I said.  “Love the mustache!”

He smiled, and replied, “You know I just grew the thing.  Do you think I should keep it?”

“I makes you look 10 years younger.  You’d be crazy to shave it,” I told him.  One thing I had learned upon opening conversations with strangers is that if you pay them a specific and effusive compliment, they never dismiss or argue.

Brickhouse handed me the cake box, and said, “Kid, can you find a freezer for this.  It’s a surprise ice cream cake for my wife.  Her birthday is in four days, and I need it to be kept in a freezer until then.”

I told him that I would be happy to put it someplace cold and safe until he came back for it.  “Thanks, kid,” he said.  Brickhouse called everybody “kid,” because he was terrible with names.  That was fine by me.

So there I was holding Jack Brickhouse’s wife’s ice cream birthday cake without any inkling what the hell I was going to do with it.  I had never seen a freezer at Tribune Tower, but there had to be one somewhere.  I needed to find it very quickly or the beautiful cake would melt into a puddle of goop.

I asked engineer Ben Cortez if he knew where a freezer was.  Ben was my go to for all questions.  He was very patient with interns, so I knew I would at least get some kindness if not information.  Ben said he thought there might be one in back near the talent offices.

I passed Dr. Milt Rosenberg’s book-lined office, and there he was, reading like always.  Rosenberg, the University of Chicago professor and host of Extension 720, was incredibly intimidating.  A man with his voracious appetite for information would never tolerate a question from an insolent intern carrying an ice cream cake.  He would likely ask why I agreed to care for Brickhouse’s cake without first knowing where a freezer was.  So I spared myself the lecture.

Roy Leonard’s office was next, and as always, he was very helpful.  Not only one of the best talk hosts in Chicago radio history, but one of the nicest guys too, Leonard told me exactly where to find a freezer.  Knowing how radio people gravitate toward free food – especially frozen treats – I wrote a note threatening bodily harm if anyone disturbed to contents.  The cake belonged to Brickhouse, and no one better mess with it.  With Brickhouse’s cake safe, I returned to the sports office to find Brickhouse on the phone.

“Okay, just don’t get too far out ahead of me,” Brickhouse said as he hung up the phone.  He then told me, “Going to meet my wife at Harry Caray’s Restaurant for a few drinks.”  This was a stunning moment of real life banter with a broadcasting icon.  I had always wondered what Brickhouse’s life away from the Cubs was like.  Seemed it was a lot like everyone else’s.

I told him the cake was safe in a freezer, and all he had to do was tell me when he would return to pick it up and I would make sure I was there to get it for him.

He came back the following Monday. I grabbed the cake, intact, and presented it to him.  “Thanks, kid!” he said.

Sensing a moment where I could say something dramatic that would convey my admiration for all those afternoons and nights he spent with me during Cubs games, I said, “No.  Thank you.”

Brickhouse cocked his head, looked at me, said. “Yeah, Okay,” and hustled down the hall likely consumed with the fear the cake might melt before he got it home.